Personal Finance

Setting  Priorities

Setting priorities for your finances is a personal thing. There is no size fits all because everyone’s circumstances, goals, and priorities are quite different and unique. What may work for one person may not necessarily work for another person or family.

So how do I prioritise my spending?

The first question is “Do you have any debt.”?

If you have a bit of discretionary money, that is money which you are able to decide what to spend it on then reducing your debt has to be a priority but then again it all depends on whether it is consumer debt, a student loan, or you have a mortgage. Getting rid of credit card or hire purchase debt has to be your number one goal because that interest quickly adds up. The crunch always comes when you have to pay it back and some people who took on loans without giving enough thought to repayments got a rude awakening when their statements arrived through the post or in the email.

You may not have any debt but will still have other priorities.

Your age has a lot to do with it and in saying that I am not suggesting that your age will determine whether you are going to get married, have kids, go on your big OE (Overseas Experience), learn to drive, or study because people do all these kind of things at any age these days. I am not suggesting for one moment that you take out a 30 year mortgage when you are 80 or train for a marathon when you are 100 though there is no law to say you cannot do these things. Evenone to their own I suppose.

Priorities change throughout your lifetime. What may have been important to you during your teens and twenties may not be of interest to you during your thirties and forties. Then stuff happens which can change your priorities. You may get ill or hurt in an auto mobile accident or at work which can change your priorities.

It really is up to you to decide what is important to you and your family if you have one. As I said at the beginning of this piece, “There is no size fits all” and what your priorities are dependant on your goals and circumstances.

Irrespective of who you are and at what stage of life you are at, it is important that you have a plan in place, that you have goals, and that you decide where you are going otherwise you will be like a life raft that is out on the ocean. It is at the mercy of the waves and will end up where the waves will take it.

 

 

 

Invest only Discretionary Money on Bitcoin

You should only invest discretionary money on bitcoin or whatever crypto currency you decide to buy. By discretionary I mean that it is money you can fully afford to lose. No one in their right mind would buy lottery tickets, alcohol, cigarettes or whatever with money that has been reserved for rent, power, or food.

Bitcoin has made some investors a lot of money who had bought and sold at the right time. At the end of the day, something is only worth what others are prepared to pay. This applies whether it is the property market, the sharemarket, or bitcoin.

So what is discretionary money? Well that really depends on what is important to you and your family. I have known some people that think that spending money on booze and cigarettes is more important than buying good wholesome food for their children but then I wouldn’t expect these people to be ready this anyway.

If you are single then you can decide what you are willing to forgo in order to start investing in bitcoin otherwise you will have to try and convince your other half to join you in the vision.

You don’t have to give things up completely, you can spend half as much on alcohol or takeaways. It all adds up in the long run.

The bottom line is that if the loss of your money is going to cause you to lose sleep then investing in bitcoin is certainly not for you,

This article is the opiniion of the writer and not intended as financial advice. It is advisable to seek financial advice with matters of investments.

 

 

Thoughts about BItcoin

Bitcoin has been in the news a lot lately with stories of money made from it. One guy in New Zealand told me that the money he made from Bitcoin helped him pay for a house.

There are warnings from financial experts that any money invested in Bitcoin must be money you can afford to lose. It is highly speculative and volitile.

The bottom line is that if the possibllity of losing your money is going to cause you sleepless nights then investing in Bitcoin is not for you. der

The only thing I can suggest is that you can find some space in your budget. What are you prepared to give up? Financial success of any kind often means giving something up in order to achieve a greater goal.

What do you have that can be converted into cash that can be used as seed money for your Bitcoin investments. It must be stressed however that Bitcoin is by means not the only Cypto Currency around. There are I believe to be around 1500 or so of them. I believe that in the future, countries will all get in on the act and issue their own crpto currency. In the meantime, one has to find a good bitcoin exchange to trade with.

Do your research as you would any other kind of investment. Bitcoin is a fun investment and is another option for your financial portfolio.

 

A New String to Your Financial Bow

For those who live in New Zealand, there is an investment which is ideal for those who want to get into the sharemarket but don’t have much money to start with. It is Sharesies where you are able to drip feed money into the market without committing yourself to any set amount per week though you can have money direct credited into sharesies if you choose.

It costs $30 NZ to register with Sharesies. This is payable per annum. You will have a choice of investing in medium risk and high risk shares. The minimum amount you can invest in a share is $5.

There is more than 30,000 Kiwis who are registered with Sharesies. 80% of these are aged under 40 but the investors range in age from 18-80. I believe sharesies may be looking at entering the US market at some stage so if you are from that country and want another string to your financial bow then sharesies may ber what you are looking for. Check out sharesies on www.sharesies.nz

Welcome to my site

Robert the Bruce gained a valuable lesson from a spider when sitting in his cave on Rathlin Island in 1307 where he was hiding from the English and their allies. Feeling defeated he watched a spider spinning its web and after who knows how many times it tried to reach the beam on the other side. After a rest it tried again and this time is suceeded. Robert the king of Scotland then said enthusiastically “That’s it, the secret to success is to try, try, and try again” and that is what Robert did as he won one battle after another against the English culminating in his most notable success. Leading the Scots to victory at Bannockburn in 1314.

I had tried to get my own site running here with great difficulty and had contacted my server on a helpline several times. I have pin pouinted what the problem is which they had me on the wrong server or something like that so it wasn’t really me after all. Still its all a learning process. I have numerous sites on wordpress.com and weebly.com with some on wix.com and blogger.com. These are all free but you really need to outlay some money to get some of the plugins needed to really operate a business.

The aim of my site is to provide info products which are of some use to you, so if there are things which you are interested in then let me know and I will see what I can do to add them to my site.

 

 

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